North Korean Missile Parts Said to Be From Japan

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

Published: July 9, 1999

TOKYO, July 8—
Two Japanese members of Parliament charged today that key elements of North Korea's missile program come from Japan, and they called for tighter export restrictions.

They said 30 to 40 percent of the semiconductors in North Korean missiles, along with argon gas burners used inside them, come from Japan. But they said they had no information about the manufacturers or about how the materials ended up in North Korea.

North Korea launched a ballistic missile -- which it described as a satellite -- in August, sending it arcing over Japan before it splashed down in the Pacific Ocean. That caused a wave of unease in Japan, and there is growing alarm because of reports that North Korea is preparing to test an updated version of the missile, the Taepodong 2.

The two members of Parliament, Ichita Yamamoto, of the governing Liberal Democratic Party, and Keiichiro Asao, of the opposition Democratic Party, said they had gathered their information from a variety of sources, including North Korean defectors and South Korean military intelligence officers. They acknowledged that much of the information was sketchy.

A North Korean defector to South Korea handled Japanese materials and heard that they had been used in the missile program, but did not know whether they were used in Taepodong missiles or in the earlier Nodong missiles, they said.

Some diplomats and scholars warn against putting too much trust in South Korean information about North Korea, or in North Korean defectors who are under the control of South Korean intelligence officials. In the past South Korea has sometimes deliberately passed out misinformation to tarnish the image of North Korea.

Mr. Yamamoto and Mr. Asao also said they had inspected a North Korean mini-submarine captured last year in South Korea, and that 21 percent of its parts had come from Japan. All these items are widely available and there are no restrictions on their export.

''All the parts that we found can be exported legitimately to North Korea,'' Mr. Asao said, in urging that restrictions be tightened.